Polish Border Guard detains large number of illegal migrants in newest wave

Officers from the Podlaski Border Guard unit stopped 24 illegal migrants, who were mostly from Afghanistan and Chechnya, after they crossed the Belarusian-Polish border.

The group of illegal migrants had reached Poland on foot through the so-called ‘green border’ in the East of the country. They were stopped near the small town of Zubrzyca Mała located a few kilometers from the border itself by a Border Guard patrol.

The Border Guard unit spokeswoman, major Katarzyna Zdanowicz, informed that there were 24 persons in total — 11 Afghan citizens, nine Chechens, two Palestinians, one Armenian, and one Jordanian citizen.

After carrying out necessary actions by the Border Guard, the court decided to relocate the migrants to guarded centers for foreigners in Białystok, Kętrzno and Lesznowola. Based on court rulings, foreigners who are transferred to such centers are those who were detained during illegal border crossings, those evading expulsion orders, those residing in Poland without appropriate documentation or are working in Poland illegally.

This is the 13^th group of illegal migrants detained by the Podlaski Border Guard unit. The total number of migrants is 112. In a few cases, the smugglers responsible for these illegal operations were arrested and most of them were sent to prison following charges.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, a group of female illegal migrants from Ethiopia was detained by the Silesian Border Guard unit in the Southern Poland. The women had illegally crossed the Polish-Slovakian border while hiding in a truck semi-trailer. The truck-driver, a Belarusian citizen, had called the police once he had suspicions of their presence in the vehicle.

Interestingly, while the women claimed they were from Ethiopia, this information remains to be confirmed as they did not possess any identifying documents on them.

All three women filed notions for international protection on Polish territory and were transferred to guarded centers for foreigners in which they will remain until proceedings have been completed.